What is the difference between Forward Proxy and Reverse Proxy?

First let’s review what a forward proxy or proxy is and how it works. A forward proxy acts a gateway for a client’s browser, sending HTTP requests on the client’s behalf to the Internet. The proxy protects your inside network by hiding the actual client’s IP address and using its own instead. When an outside HTTP server receives the request, it sees the requestor’s address as originating from the proxy server, not
from the actual client.

A Reverse Proxy proxies on behalf of the backend HTTP server not on behalf the
outside client’s request, hence the term reverse. It is an application proxy for servers using the HTTP protocol. It acts as a gateway to an HTTP server or HTTP server farm by acting as the final IP address for requests from the outside. The firewall works tightly with the Reverse Proxy to help ensure that only the Reverse Proxy can access the HTTP servers hidden behind it. From the outside client’s point of view, the Reverse Proxy is the actual HTTP server.